Living in the USA

One in six voters, pollsters say, are “still unsure of their choice.” What do people mean when they say they are “undecided”? Rick Perlstein says political writers have failed to understand the undecideds—and what Kamala might do to win their votes. Also: Democrat Marie Gleusenkamp Perez won a House seat in a Trump district, pointing the way for others. Marc Cooper analyzes her...

Kamala has been showing up: from "Call Her Daddy" – a podcast popular among young woman, to "The Howard Stern Show" – popular among young men; to "The View" and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" – Harold Meyerson comments on Kamala's media blitz. Also: The polls have had disastrous failures for decades, but people continue to focus on them; Rick Perlstein has a better idea: ‘don’t follow p...

If the election were to happen today, polls point to 276 for Kamala; 262 for Trump. Also: The vice presidential debate – "Walz, who was plainly unaccustomed to dealing with such adept obfuscation, particularly when couched in Vance’s one-night-only dulcet tones" writes Harold Meyerson in The Prospect; so, what did Walz win? Harold Meyerson comments. Next: John Nichols has been driving to places in...

The polls right now show Kamala would win the electoral college if the election were held today--Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump Media stock - it's sinking fast. Plus: Trump has canceled his plan to visit Springfield, Ohio, but his lie about Haitian immigrants there eating cats and dogs continues to ricochet around the American political world. Amy Wilentz comments. Also: The presidential el...

The Republican Party and the Trump Campaign have no field operations of their own doing door-to-door work - for the first time all of that has been outsourced to PACs with independent funding, and the largest, run by Elon Musk, has just fired the company doing its canvassing in Nevada and Arizona. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump has made it clear he won't accept the results of the 2024 elect...

Presidential Debate 2024: Harold Meyerson on how, in dealing with Trump, "Kamala hit it out of the park"; and then, "the Republicans immediately seized upon 'Well, the moderators were hard on Trump'; but that's what happens when what you say is constructed entirely of lies." Also: Homeless vets have been trying for years to get the VA to build housing for them in LA on land dedicated to that purpo...

Bibi is keeping the war in Gaza going not only for his own political survival but to help Trump defeat Kamala - Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Trump announced Friday that he would be voting against a abortion rights ballot measure in his home state of Florida. Amy Littlefield reports on the crucial referendum in the state that had been the South’s last refuge for abortion access. Plus: Rache...

With ten weeks to go until election day, we'll look at where we've been in the last several weeks – most surprising: Kamala Harris emerging as a great candidate. Harold Meyerson explains that it’s not so much that Harris has changed but that the Democratic Party has. Also: Summer Reading: M: Son of the Century is a 750-page historical novel about the rise of Mussolini by Antonio Scurati – John Pow...

The Trump campaign – it's not going well right now. Marc Cooper has our analysis, and advises, rather than follow the two-or-three-point difference in polling, that we should instead look at the trend lines. Also, he reminds us that at the end of July in 1988, Michael Dukakis was leading George Bush by 14 points. It’s still August — and time for more summer beach reading. While the Democrats hold...

Trump mostly stays home at Mar-a-Lago while Kamala and Tim Walz meet huge crowds in the swing states. Harold Meyerson comments on the current asymmetrical state of the campaign. Plus: Talking politics, and history, with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown - he’s up for reelection this year, in a state where Biden got only 45%.  (originally recorded in October 2020) Also: Elon Musk has been a leader in...

Tim Walz was a great choice for Kamala's VP - Harold Meyerson explains -- and takes up the question, what's happening to the Trump campaign? Also: JD Vance’s remark about “ childless cat ladies ” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis, and rebuts Vance’s argument that people who don’t have children don’t have a stak...

Kamala's first 10 days have been "what any candidate would dream of" – and have given the Democrats an "energy jolt". Also, Donald's bad day with the largest annual gathering of Black journalists –Harold Meyerson comments. Next: Every four years, people die, people turn 18 and the electorate changes. Steve Philips reports on the new electorate. Plus: The phrase "homeless veterans" should be an Ame...

America ready to elect a Black woman president? Harold Meyerson examines the opportunities facing Kamala Harris, and the obstacles to be overcome. Also: Democrats in Arizona are engaged in massive organizing to win an abortion rights referendum, elect a senator, and flip a House seat. And they are facing an Arizona Republican Party that is pretty crazy, to say the least. The Nation ‘s Sasha Abrams...

After surviving the assassination attempt: Is Trump capable of sticking with his new feeling of gratitude, calm, and unity, or are anger and megalomania built into his DNA? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Kamala Harris – could she replace Biden on the ticket?  Should she?  Joan Walsh has our report. Plus, from the archives: the song “Mack the Knife” from Berthold Brecht in 1928, to the O...

Where do we stand with Joe Biden – today? More Democrats are saying Biden needs to step down – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: During the Supreme Court term that just ended, the conservative majority granted new constitutional rights to hedge fund managers, big business—and Donald Trump. David Cole explains the shocking decisions that have transformed our government. Plus: 1974 , the new memoir by...

What would it take to get Biden to decline the nomination? Polls about the opinion of the Democratic rank-and-file; the views of Democratic senators and House members–those in danger of losing their seats and political careers—and Biden’s own circle, for whom the crucial factor will be their assessment of his legacy. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: Marc Cooper argues that the narrative for Joe Bid...

Trump v. Biden 2024 – before the debate: Biden cannot look old or confused, BUT – in a way, Trump's constant ridiculing of Biden for looking old and confused actually gives Biden his biggest and best opportunity. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: What should the Democrats do about white voters? Most of them have voted for Trump, twice. How much of that can be changed? Steve Phillips reports on new r...

It's not just AIPAC that's after Squad member and incumbent representative running for New York's 16th congressional district, Jamaal Bowman – Hillary Clinton has just endorsed his opponent, George Latimer – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: On May 31, Joe Biden declared, “It is time for this war to end.” But the leaders of both Israel and Hamas seem content for the war in Gaza to grind on into...

Male Trump voters tend to have what researches call 'precarious manhood' – determined by the frequency of their search terms for things such as: "penis enlargement" "Viagra" and "hair restoration" – Harold Meyerson comments Also: The Israel lobby AIPAC is spending millions to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman in the New York state Democratic primary. That’s because he called for a permanent...

What happened to the immediate Gaza cease-fire that Biden called for last week? Last Wednesday, Israel's national security advisor said that he expected Israel's war on Gaza would continue at least until the end of the year – if not longer. Harold Meyerson comments. Next: The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won’t matter much in the election – Marc Cooper d...

Almost 3,000 students have been arrested at more than 60 college campuses protesting American support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Schools have a responsibility to maintain order. But they must not sacrifice the principles of free speech that are core to their educational mission. How have they been doing? Ben Wizner comments. He’s Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Proj...

Recent polls show Biden's level of support among non-college voters of all races is down to 39% – that's 9 points less than his level of support from those same voters in the 2020 election – Harold Meyerson comments. Next: Democrats in the Senate are going to lose the seat vacated by Joe Manchin in West Virginia – can they hold all the others in November? John Nichols has our analysis, starting wi...

The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel’s 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years...

Lots of pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses have been attacked by local police, but UCLA was different: a pro-Israel mob attacked the encampment on April 30.  The attack continued for three hours before police stepped in, and they didn’t arrest any of the attackers.  The next night, the police themselves attacked and shut down the encampment.  David Myers has our report. A...

On Tuesday, April 30, UCLA failed to protect students when 200 pro-Israel militants -- who were not students -- attacked the pro-Palestine encampment on campus. On Wednesday, thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered outside Royce hall; and during the early morning hours on Thursday, May 2, police raided the pro-Palestine encampment themselves and made over 200 arrests. Harold Meyerson contra...